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  VI

  The old queen hath died, and with her the dynasty of the Uzuldarines is ended, as well; and it be rumored amongst men that her nephew, Zorquus. Prince of Cerngoth, will reign henceforward in Uzuldaroum, and his son, Pharapha, after him. But these are matters which concern me little, for I doubt me that ever shall I live to see them come to pass.

  This very eve did I raise Charnadis from the shadows, even Charnadis the Daemon of Time, to whom the ages past and ages yet to come are as one, for such is the fullness of the vision of Charnadis. And from the daemon did I inquire after the manner of my demise, and from the lips of Charnadis did I learn that erelong and in the first year of the empery of Zorquus shall I journey hence into that vast and mysterious Enigma the which lieth beyond Death’s black and ineluctable gates. But ere mine eyes grow dim and my hand loseth his cunning, have I set down, in words however cursory and unequal to the task, this poor account of the life and times of the Master Eibon, so that his name shall not be forgotten on the lips of men.

  And into the hands of mine own pupil, Alabbac, shall I deliver in the hour of my death this very Book of Eibon which I have at length and in the fullness of time compiled from amongst his scrolls and scriptures, so that the wisdom of Eibon may survive my time to the enlightenment of generations yet unborn. This is as my master would have wished; and so 1 discharge my trust to him.

  VII

  Here endeth the Life of Eibon according to Cyron of Varaad, which Alabbac of Mnardis had from his teacher in the hour of his death, and the which was passed on to me, Harood of Kalnoora, in the time of the death of King Pharapha in the three-and-twentieth year of his reign, and of the coronation of Thaarapion; the which shall I also bequeath to the wisest of mine own disciples when that my last hour draweth nigh, so that this lore and wisdom shall not be lost to men.

  This true and veritable copy of the Book of Eibon was set down in mine own hand in the sixteenth year of the reign of King Rhastazoul, the fourth monarch of the Gerngothic Dynasty to hold the throne of Uzuldaroum, the which was even the one hundredth year since the vanishment from this Earth of the great sorcerer Eibon. In this same year was the Coming of the Great Ice whereby was the province of Mhu Thulan whelmed under the eternal snows and thereby rendered forever uninhabitable by men.

  THE BOOK OF EIBON

  I. HISTORIES OF THE ELDER MAGI

  1. THE UTMOST ABOMINATION:

  History of Zylac the Archimage

  (Weird Tales, Fall 1973; Mike Ashley (ed.). Weird Legacies)

  2. THE DOUBLE TOWER:

  History of Zliogm the Necromancer

  (Weird Tales, Winter 1973; Year’s Best Fantasy Stories)

  3. THE SCROLL OF MORLOC:

  History of the Shaman Yhemog

  (Fantastic, October 1975; Year’s Best Fantasy Stories #2; Lin Carter, Lost Worlds)

  H. THE DESCENT INTO THE ABYSS:

  History of the Sorcerer Haon-Dor

  (Weird Tales #2 [Zebra])

  5. THE SECRET IN THE PARCHMENT: History of the Thaumaturge Ptomeron (Crypt of Cthulhu #54)

  6. THE FACE FROM BELOW: History of Pnom the Exorcist (never written)

  7. THE SPHINX OF ABORMIS: History of the Wizard Hormager

  (never written; notes indicate story to be based on Eibon portions of Smith’s “Ubbo-Sathla”)

  8. THE ALKAHEST:

  History of Enoycla the Alchemist (never written)

  9. THE COMING OF THE WHITE WORM:

  History of Evagh the Warlock

  (Clark Ashton Smith, Lost Worlds; Hyperborea; The Monster of the Prophecy)

  10. THE DESOLATION BEYOND DEATH (published as “The Light from the Pole”):

  History of Pharazyn the Enchanter

  (Weird Tales #1 [Zebra])

  II. EPISODES OF EIBON OF MHU THULAN

  I. UTTRESSOR

  (Planned story based on CAS plot synopsis “Twilight Pilgrimage”; never written.)

  2. IN THE VALE OF PNATH

  (Gerald Page [ed.]. Nameless Places)

  3. THE STAIRS IN THE CRYPT:

  History of the Necromancer Avalzaunt

  (Fantastic, August 1976; Years Best Fantasy Stories #3 Carter, Lost Worlds)

  <4. ANNOTATIONS FOR THE BOOK OF NIGHT

  (never written)

  5. THE BORROWER BENEATH

  (“Novella” said to be in draft as of December 29, 1972, part of “Xothic Cycle”; apparently not extant.)

  6. SHACGAI

  (August Derleth [ed.]. Dark Things)

  7. THE FEASTER FROM THE STARS (Crypt of Cthulhu #26)

  8. THE HAUNTING OF UTHNOR (never written)

  9. THE OFFSPRING OF THE TOMB (never written)

  10. THE DOOR TO CYKRANOSH

  (Smith’s “The Door to Saturn,” in Smith, Lost Worlds; Hyperborea; The City of the Singing Flame)

  PAPYRUS OF THE DARK WISDOM (Crypt of Cthulhu #5*0

  $2.50

  by Charnel House, Publishers

  Robert M. Price 107 East James Street Mount Olive, NC 28365

  Cover rune by Lin Carter